Caught

It seems like George is caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Courtesy of thinkprogress.org

I'd like to point out comments from Rice and Gonzales, Rice is from today and Gonzales from January of this year and I'd also like a quote from Bill Kristol who, like typical republicans, places blame on Bill Clinton.

RUSSERT: What Democrats and Republicans in Congress are asking, what is the authority that you keep citing? What law? What statute? Where in the Constitution does it say that the President can eavesdrop, wiretap American citizens without a court order?

RICE: Tim, the President has authorities under FISA which we are using and using actively. He also has authorities that derive from his role as Commander in Chief and his need to protect the country. He has acted within his constitutional authority and within statutory authority. Now, I am not a lawyer and I am quite certain that the Attorney General will address a lot of these questions.

Now here is Gonzales during his confirmation hearing in January:

SEN. FEINGOLD: I — Judge Gonzales, let me ask a broader question. I’m asking you whether in general the president has the constitutional authority, does he at least in theory have the authority to authorize violations of the criminal law under duly enacted statutes simply because he’s commander in chief? Does he — does he have that power?

MR. GONZALES: Senator, this president is not — I — it is not the policy or the agenda of this president to authorize actions that would be in contravention of our criminal statutes.

Now here is Bill Kristol today on fox:

BILL KRISTOL: I wish Bill Clinton had done this. I wish we had tapped the phones of people that Mohammed Atta, that Mohammed Atta here into the United States, if we discovered phone calls from Afghanistan to him. That’s why 9/11 happened. That’s what connecting the dots is.

JAUN WILLIAMS: If you’re going after the terrorists so would a FISA court support it, just as you support it.

So here is the typical republican response: They don't know and it's Bill Clinton's fault even though 9/11 happened under George Bush's watch. These guys are scum pure and simple.